S-I-R-I-U-S & M-A-R-L-E-N-E
by bookworm42x
Summary: Sirius Black & Marlene McKinnon, growing up just like you'd think they would. R
1. you've got time

"Marlene McKinnon?" the boy repeated to himself. It was a nice name that even his immature mind could appreciate. He was tall for his age and had a lot of messy dark hair. His heart was practically palpitating with anxiety.

Marlene McKinnon was a beautiful name. In his head, he spelled it M-A-R-L-E-E-N.

"Yep," said the girl standing next to him, popping the 'p.' "No, I already know your name," she cut across as he opened his mouth to reply. "I sat on the train with that girl over there, and _she _told me." She pointed out a curly-haired figure whom he immediately recognized as Hestia Jones. The Jones family was spoke of in great distaste in his house. 'Blood traitors!' Mr. Black would hiss when he read of them in the Daily Prophet, throwing the article across the kitchen. And Kreacher, the family house elf, would calmly retrieve the newspaper with his sickeningly oily smile and murmur, "Quite right, Master. Filthy blood traitors." Sirius had met Hestia once, by accident, when he was buying his wand, and thought she looked pleasant- not that he would ever tell his family.

"What's my name, then?"

"Black," said Marlene proudly. "It's Black!"

"_Sirius _Black," he corrected.

"Sirius is a rotten name," Marlene declared. In her head, she spelled it S-E-R-I-O-U-S.

"_I _like it," said Sirius defensively, although he didn't really.

"Well, I'll call you that then."

He nodded, swallowing audibly, and returned his gaze to the large, intimidating oak doors before them.

"Oi," he muttered, poking Marlene. "You nervous?"

"Ah, terrified," she said, as if she were boasting. "Utterly terrified. What House are you going for?"

Sirius looked around nervously to see if his cousin Bellatrix was listening in, then whispered, as if confiding his greatest secret: "I'm _supposed _to be in Slytherin." He had assumed, before today, that Slytherin was his destiny- he had been told so by his entire family, and especially by Bellatrix. But James Potter, the boy he had met on the train, had made Gryffindor seem so wonderful that Sirius felt a twinge of regret at knowing that he would simply have to be in Slytherin. After all, the Sorting Hat _knew _that he came from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

"Slytherin?!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Shhh!"

She apologized. "I come from a long line of Gryffindors, myself. We'll be proper rivals, won't we?" She nudged him teasingly and he knew that they really weren't going to be rivals at all, just like he knew that he could never be James Potter's rival, no matter how much Bella tried to influence him.

"Yeah. Proper rivals."

Marlene's expression suddenly became earnest. "You know, Sirius, the Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Does it really?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"Nah. My Aunt Sue wanted to be a Hufflepuff, so she told the Hat right up: 'Mr. Hat, I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor and I think I'll be best off as a badger.' So the Hat put her there- course, my Mum was right shocked! First Hufflepuff in the family. They all thought Sue was a nutter after that, but at least she was happy. She made loads of friends in Hufflepuff."

He mulled it over for a minute. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"It's no problem," said Marlene cheerfully. "Are you ready, d'you think?"

Sirius grinned. "Ready as I'll ever be."

She smiled, and he admired the way her dark eyes brightened considerably when she was happy. "Good."

And not a moment later, the oak doors opened and the two children walked into the candlelit Great Hall.

**A/N: woop I actually wrote something!**

**I've already got at least another chapter finished but we'll see where it goes from there. ****You guys know how bad I am at finishing things lol.**

**Reviews are better than sex.**


	2. breezeblocks

Sirius Black had never liked his family.

As a child, he had watched them with wide eyes as they denounced the Mudbloods and the blood traitors and the penniless, and all the time wondered: why?

He saw Bellatrix torture stray kittens, giggling madly, and Lucius, Andromeda's betrothed, practice Dark Magic on little Muggle children in the street…why, why, why?

"It's _ridiculous, _the _filth _they're letting into Hogwarts these days," his mother whined over the Floo to his aunt Druella, oblivious to her son's eavesdropping. "They're even introducing _financial aid_! Preposterous concept!" Pause. "I _know_, darling…yes, your Bella was _just _telling me about this blood traitor boy in her year…shabby clothes and a dirty cauldron to boot…and _you know _I've always said that sort of riffraff had better be shipped off to the Americas where they belong! I've always _said _it!"

Pause. "Yes, well, we're working on _him_." Sirius's stomach clenched uncomfortably. _Working on him. _Sirius was the disgrace now, the tainted _Gryffindor. _"Oh, I'm afraid we're dining now. Cheerio, darling." He heard Walburga's footsteps and quickly retreated up to his bedroom, which was rebelliously festooned with Gryffindor banners and magazine clippings featuring beautiful Muggle girls.

Sirius felt unsure of himself when his friends weren't around. It was all perfectly fine at Hogwarts to shoot snide remarks at Bella and Avery and Snape, while James was laughing hysterically in the background and lovely Mar McKinnon smiled into her sleeve. But back at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, it was dark and gloomy and family members who had once favored him now bestowed him with ugly, disapproving looks. Once, the summer after his second year, he had been allowed to go with Regulus and Narcissa to visit Uncle Alphard, who had been unimaginably kind and had given Sirius an almost unfair amount of pocket money. However, Alphard was no longer in contact and so Sirius confined himself to his bedroom, turning up the Weird Sisters on his magical wireless in order to pointedly avoid his cousins' laughter and chattering.

There was a knock on his door.

"What's that," Sirius said in a monotone.

"It's supper, freak," Bella replied harshly. "Auntie wants you down. Now," she added.

"Later," he said lazily. "Not hungry."

"If you keep disregarding her authority, she's going to get _angry_," his cousin taunted. Sirius snorted and heard Bella retreat.

He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from his dresser and began to write.

_Dear Prongs,_

No, he didn't want to write James. Sirius waved his wand and the ink was siphoned off. He briefly considered Remus and Peter before instinctively scribing a name that he had never written before.

_Marleen, _

_Hope your summer's going well. _

_Heard you're working at Leaky. What are your hours? I'll visit you_

_-Black_

Sirius pondered using his first name, but most of his classmates knew him by his surname and so he signed off with that before sending off the owl. He then wrote a letter to James complaining about his family in depth and describing his dream of acquiring a motorcycle. Half an hour later, his owl returned.

_serious,_

_i don't like calling you by your last name, and you know it_

_that's not how my name is spelled and i am exceptionally offended that you are lumping me in with the birds you usually flirt with. under no circumstances may you visit me at work. not now & not ever_

_i will be honest & say that my summer is going terribly. i hate pubs and i hate men. lily is in australia and has not written me once. do not write me again or i will only use you as an outlet for my many complaints_

_you are probably sitting in a lavish castle with your grossly wealthy relatives_

_i hate the very idea_

_yrs,_

_M-A-R-L-E-N-E_

/

_M-A-R-L-E-N-E,_

_That's not how my name is spelled either. It's after the constellation because my family are major pricks. URSA major pricks ha ha _

_Tell Evans not to pick up any Aussie blokes or Prongs will be depressed. So far he has developed nine new ways to ask her for drinks. I have serious money on their getting together by the end of seventh year so you should encourage her to accept._

_If you hate pubs you shouldn't work in one. Maybe if I visited you it would be more bearable!_

_I don't live in a castle,_

_S-I-R-I-U-S_

/

_S-I-R-I-U-S,_

_that's really how your name is spelled ? ? well, i'll never think of you the same way. it's cool, though, constellations are cool, you should go by sirius & not black. i like your stupid puns._

_if lily does find an aussie boy friend, which i doubt she will because she is prudish and pale, i will congratulate her wholeheartedly despite the fact that she has not written me! she thinks james is a git and will continue to believe such until he presents himself to her in a knight-in-shining-armour fashion and not a oi-evans-let's-have-the-sex fashion…i don't see why this is so hard for you to comprehend_

_yrs, _

_M-A-R-L-E-N-E_

_p.s. 16:00pm-22:00pm, mon thru fri_

/

The last night before he returned to Hogwarts for his fourth year, Sirius Black sat on the staircase alone and eavesdropped on his family's conversations. He listened as again they denounced the Mudbloods and the blood traitors and the penniless.

He thought about Marlene McKinnon, with her dark curls that smelled like straw and the way she signed off her letters with 'yrs' and not 'sincerely' and how she would scold him for attempting to order firewhisky on her shift and when she told him on that hot afternoon when they left after she finished working to buy ice cream, when she told him that she liked that he called her Marlene and not Mar like most people did, and he told her that she'd better skip work tomorrow and they'd go to a motorcycle shop.

He thought about impoverished, impertinent blood traitor Marlene McKinnon and knew one thing was for sure:

Sirius Black had never liked his family.

**A/N: whaaat? Another chapter? Goddamn!**

**Reviews are better than flying motorcycles. Also I have gotten part of my inspiration for this from An Abundance of Katherines by John Green**

**just so nobody sues me xx**


	3. walking disasters

They were fifteen when James's Animagus transformation was finally successful.

It came as a shock during an early morning practice in the Room of Requirement. The three of them were continuing in their apparently fruitless attempts to transform, Remus watching and fidgeting uncomfortably as he usually did, when suddenly there was an animal in the room.

A beautiful, glistening stag stumbled around, and Sirius could see the shock in its eyes as it became accustomed to the new body.

"_Damn_," breathed Peter, and Remus stood up to pat the antlers in awe. The stag trotted pompously around the room, occasionally nuzzling one of the Marauders. There were small markings around the eyes that looked just like James's round eyeglasses.

Fifteen minutes later, James had managed to transform back into his normal self. His hair was rumpled and his glasses askew, but he looked ridiculously pleased with himself. The room was filled with the sound of the other three Marauders applauding and laughing, and James did not stop puffing his chest out until they reached the Great Hall for breakfast.

/

Full moon transformations were more difficult than expected.

Keeping Remus company often involved wrestling with him. When they transformed back, they often discovered scrapes and bruises on themselves that were hard to explain to classmates and professors.

"Oh, you know…clumsy old me," said Peter nervously when Professor McGonagall demanded to know how he had acquired such injuries. "Fell down a flight of stairs on my way to Care of Magical Creatures…"

The professor looked him over suspiciously. "You'd better have a trip to the infirmary nonetheless, Mr. Pettigrew. Off you go!"

He nodded and scurried out of the room. Sirius smirked faintly at the resemblance to Peter's Animagus form.

James was more forthright about his wounds. "See this bruise, Evans?" he boasted one evening in the Gryffindor common room, indicating a nasty purple discoloring on his cheekbone. "Quidditch practice. I was so busy thinking about you I _fell off my broom_ and landed on a…on a rock."

Lily did not look up from her game of wizard's chess. "Rocks are fearsome creatures, not to be provoked," she murmured to Mar McKinnon, who chuckled and instructed her queen to move up a few spaces so it could conquer Lily's knight.

"Next time, it'll be a higher fall," James swore. "And I'll be in the hospital wing for _weeks_ and you'll regret making fun of me, Evans."

"It's obvious you got that bruise from an animal," said Mar as Lily bemoaned the loss of her chess piece. "Why do you look so shocked? I don't really care, you know, it's just a bit pathetic that you have to resort to pinching from Care of Magical Creatures in order to impress Lily." She cursed as Lily smashed one of her pawns and looked up again. "If it really bothers you that much, I don't think anyone else can tell. My aunt has experience with magical creatures and their inflicted injuries, and she's taught me some things."

"Don't talk about it," said James hurriedly. "Don't tell anyone. You won't, will you?"

"I won't, I won't! Stop fretting, I'm not going to go about spilling the beans about your furry little—" Suddenly, Mar stopped short and ran her hands through her curly hair.

"Something up?" asked Lily, clearing off the remains of her friend's pawn.

"Oh, nothing really," Mar replied, her voice shaking slightly. "Let's finish this game later, Lil. I've really got to go to the library, I've just remembered I've got a thing I forgot to do, for, for…Transfiguration."

And with that, she rushed out of the common room.

/

The next day, Sirius found a note in his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. It was carefully folded into a neat square and the handwriting was instantly recognizable.

_S,_

_meet me. restricted section, 19:00pm. _

_yrs, M.M._

His heart thumped wildly in his chest at the thought of being alone in an enclosed space with Marlene McKinnon, and he slipped the note into his pants pocket to ensure that the Marauders would never find it. Sirius was not as obvious as his friends when it came to romance. Remus had sworn not to date any girls as the result of what James proudly called his 'furry little problem;' Peter stuttered incessantly when in the presence of any female, and James was publicly and wholeheartedly devoted to the conquering of Lily Evans.

But Sirius was a prankster and a rulebreaker. He did not form emotional attachments besides his pact with the Marauders, and he never got any closer to girls than a quick snog in a broom closet after curfew. Marlene McKinnon, he admitted to himself as he walked to the library, could only be described as _something else_. She was _different_ from quick snogs in broom closets after curfew- she was good at chess, she had eczema, she kept cartons of pumpkin juice in her dormitory: he had a running list of interesting facts about Marlene in his brain and it could not be explained. She was mesmerizing to watch when she did her Potions essays in the common room because she chewed her quills and got ink all over her bony fingers. She had gotten a job the summer before fifth year at the disguised owl emporium near Grimmauld Place and he would often meet her after work when she was dirty and exhausted and they would lie on the sidewalk, not talking. She thought his motorcycle dream was aces. She _used _words like 'aces.' Marlene McKinnon was _fascinating. _

"I'm not here to kiss you," she declared when they met in the restricted section. Her hair was frizzy and her Gryffindor tie was loose. Sirius _wanted _to kiss her, but he plastered a puzzled look on his face as if he had no idea what she was on about.

"I thought you might have misunderstood my note," Marlene explained. "Hestia told me you snogged Dorcas Meadowes in the restricted section in third year and you _might _have thought that was my intention. But it isn't."

"Okay," said Sirius.

"You _did _snog Dorcas in third year?"

"Uh-huh."

"Right. Yes, just- er, confirming."

There was an awkward silence for half a minute before Marlene took a deep breath and looked up at Sirius.

"I know you're an Animagus."

He sucked a breath in, shocked, before beginning to laugh. "What? Of course I'm not."

"You _are_."

"Come on, that's ridiculous."

"No, no, don't try and deny it. I know you are, and I know Potter and Pettigrew are, too, and I know Lupin is a werewolf. I did my research, Sirius."

"He's not a werewolf!"

"He misses school every month at the full moon and comes back looking peaky! His boggart was the moon that time we practiced in Defense, and for Merlin's sake, the whole lot of you aren't exactly _subtle_- you call him _Moony_…"

"Marlene," Sirius cut her off earnestly. "You can't tell _anyone_."

"Don't worry," she reassured him, placing a palm on his shoulder that made him shudder with want. "I'm not going to. He's just the same as any one of us, I don't—I don't discriminate."

Sirius closed his eyes, visibly relaxing, and unconsciously entwined his fingers with hers. He heard her breath hitch as she stood up on tiptoes, her lips brushing the ear parallel to the shoulder she was grasping.

"And just so you know," Marlene whispered, "I'm a fair Healer. If you want to give a rap on the girls' dorm when you've got a few bruises—"

"The others would go mad if they knew you knew."

"All the same," she came down off of her tiptoes, and he could feel her breath ghosting over his lips and chin, "it'll look less suspicious when only two of you have injuries—won't it?" Marlene fiddled absentmindedly with the collar of his school shirt before removing her hands. Sirius's eyes flew open at the loss of contact.

"Just think about it," she said quietly. "Okay? I could help you out with keeping the secret."

"Thank you," Sirius replied, and he meant it.

"It's no problem. Really." She smiled, and tilted her head to the side as if she were considering something. "I'll…see you around, Sirius."

"Yeah," he muttered, and watched as she left the library.

An hour later, Sirius walked down to dinner and sat with his best friends and said nothing. And if anyone noticed that he was sharing small smiles with _fascinating _Marlene McKinnon, they certainly didn't say anything.

**A/N: hey guys wow I updated ! super cool!**

**to the guest reviewer who thought Marlene was a little too young to be working at the Leaky Cauldron... yeah I guess you're right. but in TLAT Donna works at the Leaky Cauldron and she's not of age and TLAT is a fandom classic so I'm just going to say I'm okay with being a little wrong on that.**

**reviews are better than chicken nuggets**


	4. little birds

It was the summer before sixth year and everything was terrifying, and not just because nobody had received their O.W.L. results yet.

Marlene McKinnon tended bar at the Leaky Cauldron in the mornings and the pub was silent, save the radio wireless blasting the news. Wizards and witches alike gathered and listened as the radio personality detailed the latest Death Eater attack.

_Nine Muggle families dead in Liverpool!_ chirped Daisy on WWN. _Attempted assassination of the Prime Muggle Minister! The Ministry of Magic continues to struggle with the ever-confusing mystery of the Imperius Curse!_

Lily Evans came by on June 14th. There were no more holidays for the Evans family, not now that the Death Eaters were intimidating even the highest authorities. Lily had dark circles under her eyes and her lovely hair was tied up ungracefully. She had not gone to the trouble of putting on a robe over her simple Muggle clothing.

"Wish these pricks would just stop _killing _people," the redhead grumbled, swirling the straw in her gillywater. "Merlin knows I'm tired of putting up protection spells and keeping watch day _and _night."

"It's not that easy," said Marlene with a dry, closed-mouth smile as she dried out a whisky glass. "If those government dogs could figure out a way to tell whether those people have been lying about being under the Imperius Curse, it'd make their job a hell of a lot easier."

"Fuck the Imperius Curse," muttered Lily. "There are too many other bloody problems. I'm fretting about my O.W.L. results and Potter's writing me letters again and I don't know whether my family's _safe _or not- shouldn't that be a _given_, Mar?"

"'Course it _should, _doesn't mean it is. My family's not safe either; you know how we're such huge 'blood traitors.' And there's so _many _of us, and we're so damned _poor_," said Marlene, handing an elderly witch a glass of sherry. She felt a lump develop in her throat and suddenly wanted to talk about something, anything else. "Hang on, did you say Potter started writing you letters again?"

Lily untied her hair exasperatedly and pushed up her empty gillywater, along with five bronze Knuts. "He's a prick, you know? He thinks he can butter me up now that I'm through being mates with _you-know-who…_it's not going to happen!Wrote me those stupid letters about his latest pranks all _last _summer and now this summer he's totally changing his angle. Playing the 'sweet' and 'caring' game. Wanting to know if there's anything he can do to help out my family. Well, two can play at that game."

"What, you're going to be sweet and caring too?" Marlene teased.

"No!" Lily flushed. "I'm going to deflect him. Stupid Mar. Well, I'd better get on home, or Mum will worry. Ta!"

"Ta," murmured Marlene.

/

"Wake up," snarled Bellatrix, bursting into Sirius's room and yanking back his covers. "I said wake _up_."

He blearily looked up at his cousin. She wore black lipstick and had matching circles rimming her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked, smirking. "Are Narcissa's new gloves not posh enough? Mum's breakfast undercooked? No, no," he feigned horror, "are the _Muggles _running rampant on the streets?"  
Bellatrix scowled, then laughed, tugging down the Gryffindor banner that was tacked to the ceiling. "Alphard's dead. Dragon pox."

She paused on her way out. "Filthy blood traitor deserved it. You'll go the same way too, if you don't stop mixing with that nasty Gryffindor lot."

Sirius had to make an effort not to shout and throw his potion ingredients kit at her.

It took a few seconds for the news to sink in. He only had one real memory of his uncle, and that was when they had tea together a few years ago. Alphard had pulled him aside and slipped a small bag of Galleons into his small hands, whispering conspiringly: "_don't tell Walburga…I have a feeling you're one of the decent Blacks._"

Sirius had never thought about it much, but he guessed that Alphard was also equally decent.

_Dragon pox. Merlin, _Sirius thought, _I feel hollow. _

He stayed in his bedroom for the rest of the day. When night descended, he waved his wand and a glittering orb of light rose to illuminate the space. Grunting, he reached into his floorboards and grabbed his trunk. He tossed in a few essential possessions: his schoolbooks, some robes, his broom, a bag of Zonko's merchandise, a pretty blue shell Marlene had found in the lake, and a stack of letters tied together.

Finally, he grimly waved his wand at the Gryffindor banners and pictures of Muggle girls on the wall. There was an outdated picture of him and his best friends as well, but James probably had other copies of it. With a whispered incantation, all the representations of what his family most hated were permanently stuck to the wall.

"Remember me, arseholes," Sirius muttered, dragging his trunk downstairs and carrying his owl's cage. The owl, Felix, hooted softly at the sudden movement of his cage but otherwise subconsciously understood the need for stealth.

The Blacks were eating dinner together and celebrating their disowned relative's death, and they did not hear Sirius go.

/

"I just need to stay here for- for a bit. Just until school starts," he begged when he reached James's house. It was pouring rain and he could feel his hair begin to cling to his face.

"Don't be daft, Padfoot, 'course you can stay," said James breezily. "What, do you think Mum and Dad and I would leave you to the streets? Come on, I'll just tell them you're here." He turned around, then paused and looked back at Sirius, who was leaning on the doorframe wearing a disbelieving expression. "Oi, aren't you coming in?"

"Yeah," Sirius muttered, endlessly grateful that James Potter was his best friend.

"Could probably fix up some food, once Mum gets over her fit of happiness…sometimes I swear she wishes _you _were her son…"

Sirius grinned, feeling more like his old self. More _at home_. "Haven't seen Dorea in ages," he commented as they walked into the living room. He was met by a delighted squeal and a hug that enveloped his torso.

Later, he sat in a sleeping bag on James's bedroom floor, looking up at the ceiling and thinking about his family. Had they shouted and screamed and worried? Had they attempted to take down the Gryffindor banners? Had they—_had they even noticed? _

Sirius pushed the thought out of his mind, and refused to think about his family. They were dark and cruel, and they supported all the killings that were occurring…_don't think about them. _Instead, he thought about the dark-haired girl who had researched ways to make a vehicle fly during her spare time, and smiled to himself. Sirius had an unnervingly high opinion of Marlene McKinnon. Surely she had flaws- surely she lied to get out of a Charms exam and bit her nails and did selfish, cruel, manipulating things-but he seemed to be blind to any such flaws. The only one that was impossible to ignore was the fact that he had not received a letter from Marlene all summer.

The rustling of blankets, indicating that James was rolling over, drew Sirius out of his thoughts. The untidy black hair was startlingly familiar, and he suddenly felt compelled to say something.

"Oi, Prongs," he said quietly, even though he knew the other boy was probably already asleep. "Thanks for all this."

And of course he was not extending gratitude for the mere favor of being allowed to stay for a few weeks- there were frozen picture frames involved, of the two of them in a train compartment before first year, of James explaining that there really wasn't a hidden reason behind the Blacks's cruelty, of a magnificent stag in the Room of Requirement and pranking Bellatrix with green goo. _Thanks for all this_. It was a pathetic understatement.

Sirius was on the precipice of sleep when he heard a mumbled: "Anytime, mate."

/

On August 29th, an unfamiliar, ruffled barn owl arrived at the Potters', carrying a scrap of parchment in its beak.

_S,_

_sorry for not writing you. i was busy at the leaky, and then i went to germany._

_if you're nice to me, maybe i will tell you about germany. _

_hope your summer has been good. see you at hoggy warty hogwarts_

_yrs,_

_Marlene xxx_

The row of 'x's after her name were signed in a slightly different handwriting, as if she had hesitated before writing them.

'X' meant a kiss, didn't it? _Three _kisses—from Marlene McKinnon, of all people.

Sirius tucked the letter carefully into the stack of all her other letters and felt happier than he had all summer.

**A/N: wow more chapter!**

**sorry these are so short. they will get longer as they get angstier.**

**also I know I sort of portray Sirius as kind of lovesick? but he isn't that is about the opposite of his personality right now he's just crushin' and you'll see other stuff ? with him ? in later chapters**

**man, I don't even know, I haven't written them yet. I'm just trying to improve hahahaha**

**Reviews are better than ezra koenig's face**

**kthxbye **


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